Ukrainian presidential election, 2004

The presidential election held in November and December 2004 in Ukraine was mostly a political battle between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and former Prime Minister and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. The election was held in a highly charged atmosphere, with allegations of media bias, intimidation and even a poisoning of Yushchenko that was later confirmed to be the result of the poison dioxin.

Rerun

On December 3 the Supreme Court declared the results of the runoff election to be invalid. A rerun of the runoff vote was held December 26. Exit polls suggested that opposition leader Yushchenko had won the poll with a majority of the votes, and Yushchenko publicly declared victory when around half of the votes had been counted.

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December 3 - December 26

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The vote counting has now been completed, and Viktor Yushchenko received 51.99% of the votes, while Viktor Yanukovych got 44.19%; Yanukovych finally conceded defeat on December 31, 2004, resigning as Ukraine's Prime Minister the same day. The regional voting patterns were largely unchanged from the first one, with many southern and eastern provinces going largely for Yanukovych, with the west and central regions again favoring Yushchenko.

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December 31 - 2004

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Ukraine's supreme court rejected Yanukovych's appeal against the electoral commission's handling of the results on January 6.

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On January 10 the Ukrainian Electoral Commission officially declared Yushchenko as the winner and on January 11 published the final election results, clearing the way for Yushchenko to be inaugurated as President. The official ceremonies took place on Sunday, January 23 at about noon, when Yushchenko was sworn in as President.

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January 10 - January 11 - January 23

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